Cool. I also see KEH has increased LF gear inventory and supports higher prices, which is good for them and us.

On The Road Again :)

plaubel

20-Feb-2017, 06:13

On The Road Again :)

I would not expect "Adox" producing themselves any film - or paper - in the next future.
In reading the announcements very deeply, I understand the new buildings as described as added storage room, while strictly avoiding any announcement of producing film.

Assembling a coating machine means nothing more than assembling a coating machine. Point..
Let's wait for an announcement like "installing a complete production line for XXX"; then we surely would have to wait some more years for the first batch of film, or paper.
Cooking emulsion, especially without air bubbles, needs some wisdom and experience.

What I can see is an improvement in extra storage, packing and probably cutting film from master rolls which come from other producers as usual.

George, if you have a formula and a lot of dollars, every film is produceable from film factories like Agfa Belgium. Or from coating factories like Innovis Coat Monheim. Or in cheaper quality and probably with a bit of risk, from Tasma/Russia.
That's their job and they want your money. You could create your own "extra Hart 100" , or let them add some additives to develop an "Ortho Hart OH 25" :-)

So why not an APX 25 Replica out of the hands of let's say Adox, if the formula still exists and the customers bring in the money.
In my opinion, we are on the road again because against oll odds we didn't stop buying film over the last very digital years, mainly.
This gave some impulses to others in doing the same, so I believe.

Ritchie

John Kasaian

20-Feb-2017, 06:41

Good news indeed!

chassis

20-Feb-2017, 07:22

The announcement is positive in my view. The next step is putting a shovel in the ground. Has this happened?

plaubel, or any of our German friends on this site: have the necessary local permissions been granted, and are construction machinery and workers on the factory location?

MAubrey

20-Feb-2017, 08:27

I would not expect "Adox" producing themselves any film - or paper - in the next future.
In reading the announcements very deeply, I understand the new buildings as described as added storage room, while strictly avoiding any announcement of producing film.

...

Ritchie

According to this article (https://www.zorkiphoto.co.uk/2017/02/2017-the-year-that-film-returned/), with direct quotes from a company representative Mirko Boddecker lays out the details more meaningfully:

“One would probably expect a straight ‘because we are growing’ but it is a mixture of achieved growth and the approach to overcome challenges in the market.
“We are the smallest manufacturer of silver halide products, so we are growing into the new, smaller market. On the other hand there are still suppliers in this market who are to big or at least used to much larger volumes. These suppliers aren’t necessarily the names the end consumer will know. They are important suppliers of pre-products which you need to run a photo factory. In recent years we have seen a consolidation to a monopoly with:
– 35mm metal-film cassettes
– 120 backing paper
– Hydroquinone and other important chemicals
– Triacetate base for film
..and other pre-products.
“Many other needed ingredients or services have not boiled down to a monopoly yet but they are a duopoly or at best there are three suppliers, which also means a very weak position for the dependant manufacturer asking for a quote.
“On most of the above items from the list we are either facing extreme price increases or even total cut-offs in supply due to the fact that the manufacturing is now owned by competitors.
“Thus we need to increase our vertical integration (depths of production) in order to keep putting out products at all. The new building provides us with the necessary space for doing both: growing and increasing the depth of production.”

So basically the situation is the opposite: Adox is looking to actually produce more of its own stuff instead of depending on other supplier.

Dirk Rösler

20-Feb-2017, 08:38

The announcement is positive in my view. The next step is putting a shovel in the ground. Has this happened?

plaubel, or any of our German friends on this site: have the necessary local permissions been granted, and are construction machinery and workers on the factory location?

If you look at the press release (http://www.adox.de/Photo/new-factory-building-in-bad-saarow-near-berlin/) they already have capacity at this location, at a location they have already acquired. They are doubling capacity by building a second hall/facility building. The investment volume is 1m Euros (US$1.062.320).

Here is the location on Google maps (https://www.google.com/maps/place/ADOX+FOTOWERKE+GmbH/@52.2804515,14.0650368,362m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x47078a1f5e5492e9:0x3f11750e43c809c8!2sPieskower+Str.+30,+15526+Bad+Saarow,+Germany!3b1!8m2!3d52.2867622!4d14.0642053!3m4!1s0x0:0x4ebdfe8149be5d8f!8m2!3d52.280564!4d14.0662551), plenty of space around it. It's an old military hospital laundry facility.

I see it's got a vintage Porsche according to the drawings in the original post. That's great.

Dirk Rösler

20-Feb-2017, 09:21

That's the $60.000 of the $1.060.000 budget :cool:

plaubel

20-Feb-2017, 10:41

Dirk,

Bad Saarow is just around the corner, no google maps neccessary.
I have read your link, I have read the german announcements, and meanwhile I have read the apug thread, where Mr. Bödecker himself explains not to produce film in B.S. at this time, and in next future.

Chassis, I'm no expert in german laws, but I swear from own experience that is very difficult to found a company here.
For example, a friend of me only wanted to build a big doctor's house as a Professor doctor himself, a house which is absolutely necessary here, but it took more than two years for giving free the shovel after reaching in the concept.

If you want to handle chemicals things get a totally new dimension.
And producing chemicals will be unable, if you are not a producer of chemicals since decades.
This is only the gouvernments side; people with long experience in producing from emulsion to the final product told me about the difficulties of this high technology process.

Whe are aware of the time to time quality problems of Foma , a small company with 300 workers, decades of experience. Ok, and machines out of the sixties, of course.
Now imagine running a new thing.

Years ago I drove a tiny machine with a length of 15 meters, and I only produced printed paper out of big rolls of paper. This was something, in spite of missing any emulsion.
It took half a year to understand some important things like expanding and later contracting of the material, and another half year to reach V max.

The best formula and the really best machines are nothing - you have to know how to run this machines.